Combined player-piano and phonograph.



E. S. VOTEY.

\ COMBINED PLAYER PIANO AND HHONOGRAPH.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.2 191s.

Patnted Dec. 8,1914.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

In ven tor:

E. S. VOTEY.

COMBINED PLAYER PIANO AND PHONOGRAPH.

APPLIGATION FILED AUG. 2, 1913.

Patented Dec. 8, 1914.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

In ventor:

E.-S. VOTEY.

COMBINED PLAYER PIANO AND PHONOGBAPH.

APPLICATION FILED we. 2, 1913.

1,1 19,906, Patented Dec.8, 1914.

In ventor:

ET rai e ooaizinmo PLAYEEPLANO AND PHONOGBAPHQ i,ii,%n

' Application filed August 2,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I," EDWIN S. VOTEY, acitizen of the'United States, andresident of Summit/fin the county of Union and State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Player Pianosand Phonogra'phs, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in combined player pianos andphonographs.

T he object of myinvention is to provide a new and improved instrumentof this kind which is simple in construction, etl'ective and reliable inaction and in which the phonograph record disk while being started and,until is has-the proper speed of rotation is driven jointly by thephonograph spring motor and by the air" motor of the player piano whichis used for moving the perforated music sheet and after the disk hasobtained the proper speed the air motor is automatically thrown out'ofoperative connection'with said disk or its support sothat the disk isdriven by its spring motoronly,

thi i-s-maki'n g it possible to obtain proper synchronism between therecord disk and the perforated music sheet from tliestart.

In the accompanyingdrawings Figure 1 is a' frontelevation of a combinedpiano playerand phonograph embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is an endelevation of the same, partsbeing broken away and others shown insection. Fig; 3 isv a plan view of the same, the top of the piano casingbeing removed and parts being broken away, Fig.4 is a side-view of theclutch and clutch operating means, parts being shown in section. Fig. 5is a transverse sectional view on the line a-n of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is aface view of the beginning part of the perforated music'sheet to beusedin connection with the instrument. ,Fig. 7 is a plan view of therecord disk. Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view showing the air motor,clutch. tracker and the relation and connections of the several parts.

The player piano is provided with the conventional. casing 1 in theupper front part of which there is a chest 2 containing the tracker 3,the music roll 4 and the takeup roll 5, which music and take-up rollsare driven in the conventional manner by means of an air motor 6 of anyapproved construe tioiti and connected with thetakc-np and music-rollsby any well known motion trans Knitting ger'iing, all of which forms nopar- Specification of Letter's Patent.

Patented Dec. 8, 1914.

1913. Serial No. 782,556. Y

ticular part of the present invention. -Th'e rotative support 7 for thephonograph or' talking machine record 8 is provided abovej the top ofthe chest 2 at the front of the 1 piano casing 1 and is driven by aspring motor 9 such as is commonly used for roe tating a talking machinerecord in the conventional way. The phonograph recordsupport 7 and the,perforated music sheet 10 v i are provided with suitable contrivancesfor sheet, but these mechanisms formno part' operating, at ,regularintervals, valves or whatever of the present invention and may as wellbe substituted by others as {far as the present invention is concerned.

The perforated music sheetlO is provided in advance of the ordinarymusicslots or perforations 11 along one edge, preferably the right handedge, with aslot 12. 0t.

greater or less length, whichcan register with a supplemental trackerduct 1.3 in the tracker 3.v From this tracker duct 13 a tube 14 leads tovalves 15 and from the latter a I machine record support 7 so thatthelatter i is now free-to rotate. A branch tube 19 connected With thetube 16 leads 'to a bcllows 20, to the movable board of which isattached anarin 21 connected with a rod 22 which is pivoted to a lever23having pin 24 entering a groove 25in acollar- 26.011 a shaft 27 drivenby the air motor 6: Onthe 'end of the shaft27' a clutch member 28'isfixed which can be engaged with a clutch member 29 fixed on the shaft 30operativelv connected by suitable power gearing 31 with the spring motor9 for the reco d diskl l/Vhen the two. clutch members 27 and 28 aredisengaged the spring'motor for the phonoe graph disk operates entirelyindependent ofthe air motor 6, but as long as these two clutch membersare engaged, the spr ng motor 9 for the talking machine record supportis assisted by the airn otor 6. llieii' ,thef'} beginning of the slot 12inftlieperforated;

f le an is admitted to the valves controlling the bellows l? and 20whic'li are' music sheet 10 arrives at'tlie tracker diibtlf} lapsedwhereby the brake lever 18 is moved to release the record support 7 andat the same time, by the collapsing of the bellows 20 the clutch members28 and 29 are engaged so that'the' spring 'motor is now as S1S i. *,d bythe air motor and thus the disk 18 immediately started at the requiredspeed as d stinguished fronr the rather sluggish rotative movement whichthe disk support would have at the-beginning if started by the springmotor only. By the time thatj the rear'end of the slot 12 arrives at thetracker duct 13 the disk support 7 has'acguiredthe requisite speed andby the closing of the tracker duct 13 by the-imperforate part of .thepaper-of themusic sheet the valves 15 of the bellows 17 and 20 are-sooperated as. to permit the expansion of these bellows by theirconventional extend- .ing springs, with the result that'the clutchmembers 28 and 29 are disengaged and the brake lever isheld indisengaged osition from the rim of the record support by the 'usuallocking device, provided for such brake lever, and which locking deviceper se forms no part of the present invention.

It willthus be seen that the perforated music sheet is provided with aslot which determines the starting of the spring motor. It is essentialthat there shall be a proper relation between the starting of the springmotor and the music slots in the perforated music sheet. For thispurpose the record disk 8 is provided with--a depression or recess 32into which the needle 33 of the phonograph sound box 34 is-placed beforethe mechanism is started so that when the disk starts rotating, the diskand perforated music sheet will be in perfect synchronism, whichsynchronism is to be maintained by the devices previously mentioned, butwhich form no part of the present invention. However, it is necessarythat the depression or recess 32 be in a certain position and this isindicated by the pointer 35 preferably extending over the rim of therecord support 7 and by a mark or indicator 36 on the rim of saidsupport, or in other words, the support must be brought into a positionwith its indicator 36 at the pointer 351'" Therefore allthat isnecessary for-the operator to perform before starting s to adjust therecord support'so that its indicator 36 is at the pointer 35, thesupport being locked in ,this position by the brake lever. Thenthedesired record 8 is placed upon the'support and turned axially untilits recess'32 isat the pointer 35 and is thus in proper. position. Theoperator then places the needle of the sound box 34 into said recess32'. 'The music sheet 10 is then placed into the che st"'2in theconventional manner and cmmectedwith the take-up roll. Then. the ellowsare operated and thereby themusic sheet is .wound upon the take-up" rolland as soon as the beginning of the slot 12 arrives at the tracker duct13 the clutch members 28 and 29 are thrown into gear, the disk support 7is released from the brake and is rotated at a. uniform speed and themusic sheet is maintained at a speed commensurate with that of the diskby means of the synchronization devices above mentioned but forming nopart of the present invention.

When the piece has been played and the sheet is to be rerolled, this isaccomplished in the conventional manner by shifting the rewindinglever37 which reverses the driving gearing from the motor in theconventional manner. By shifting the lever 37 a valve 38 is opened inthe end of a tube 39, which tube in turn controls a valve 40, from whicha tube 41 leads to a bellows 42 which when exhausted brings the lever 18into position for locking the disk support.

Having descr bed my invention what I talities, of an independent motorin each for,

driving an independent record device -'in each instrumentality, andmeans'controlled from one record device for throwing the motor of theinstrumentality to which said record device pertains into gear with themotor of the other instrumentality and also automatically throwing themout of gear at a predetermined time, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with two instrumentalities, of an independent motorfor each instrumentality, two record devices each driven by the motor ofone of the instrumentalities, a shaft operativelydriven from one motor,another shaft operatively driven from the other motor, clutch devices onsaid latter shaft, means controlled in the operation of one ofsaidrecords for automatically throwing said clutch devices into engageuneasebeing provided with an indicator, of a pointer adjacent to the saidsupport and means controlled in the operation of the music sheet forthrowing the motor of the player piano into and out of gear with. themotor of the phonograph, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with a player piano comprising a motor for moving aperforated music sheet, a tracker, supports for a perforated music sheetpassing over the tracker a perforated music sheet provided in advance ofthe music perforations with a slot, the tracker having a supplementalduct for registry with said slot, a phonograph comprising a motor, adisk support, a sound box and a needle thereon, the support having anindicator, of a pointer adjacent to said support, a record on saidsupport, said record having a recess in communication with the recordlines, which recess is adapted to receive the needle on the sound box,substantially as set forth.

Signed at New York city in the county of New York and State of New Yorkthis 15th day of July A. D. 1913.

EDW'IN SCOTT VOTEY.

Witnesses Grouse B. KELLY, EDITH L. ROBINSON.

